


The Question

by kiyala



Category: Bleach
Genre: Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-11-09
Updated: 2006-11-09
Packaged: 2017-10-12 02:24:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/119750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiyala/pseuds/kiyala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A reflection on the relationship between Uryuu and Ryuuken, and the way it changes over time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Question

  
At the age of four, a child would ask, on average, four hundred and thirty-seven questions per day. Ryuuken knows that his son asks more. He speaks more than the average talkative child, already has a vocabulary of someone twice his age, can write his first and last name, his father's name, his grandfather's name, and even his mother's name in Kanji. He can sound out most three-lettered words in English (his favourite being 'cat') and can write all twenty six letters of the English alphabet.

He clings to Ryuuken like any adoring son would to his father, and despite his position as Chief of Staff at Karakura Hospital, Ryuuken leaves work as early as he can to spend more time with Uryuu, as any proud father would for his son.

Their relationship is a close one that Uryuu's preschool teachers feel the need to comment on every time they meet Ryuuken, rare as that may be. The man will listen to everything his son has to say, will smile each time he looks for approval, and has an answer to any question that may be thrown at him. All but one.

  
Ryuuken has been promoted to Director of Karakura Hospital, and takes his son and father out to celebrate. Uryuu enjoys the change from Ryuuken's home-made mackrel miso stew and eats as much pasta as his small stomach can hold. His father and grandfather eat slower, discussing what Uryuu knows at Grown-Up Matters. He recognises the tone of his father's voice to be the one he uses when he argues with Souken. It isn't loud but in fact, very quiet and cold. Souken's is as kind and patient as ever.

Uryuu is usually in his room when the two men begin to argue so he has never heard what it is that they are arguing about. This time, he listens closely to the deep and comforting voice of his father and picks up words that he has never heard before; Shinigami. Quincy. He hears something about souls, crosses and Hollows, and this reminds him that he has a question that he had wanted to ask his father the other day, but had forgotten.

"Tou-san?" he asks quietly and the two men immediately stop talking, as though realising only then that he is there with them. Not noticing this, Uryuu squirms in his chair to look a little taller, "Tou-san, after preschool on Friday, I was walking with Jii-san in the park and I saw something big and scary. It was black, and it had a white face, and it looked like it was eating something. I couldn't see what it was eating because Jii-san and I were too far away, but I think I heard someone screaming too, so I think they saw it as well. But I didn't scream, because I was with Jii-san and I felt safe, but Tou-san, what was it?"

The colour drains from Ryuuken's face and he opens and closes his mouth several times, looks over at Souken and then forces out a small laugh as he turns back to Uryuu, "You must be working that imagination of yours really hard again. Were you painting in the afternoon at preschool? You should have shown me what you painted, Uryuu. There aren't any monsters in the park, you must have just remembered what you were painting."

Ryuuken pats his head, but Uryuu doesn't look convinced, "We weren't painting, Tou-san. That monster was real, I'm sure of it."

"Uryuu…" for the first time, Ryuuken raises his voice. It isn't noticeable to those around them as he usually speaks quietly, but the change is picked up by his son, who immediately cringes. Sighing, Ryuuken picks up his fork and continues to eat, "Do you want any ice cream after you finish your pasta?"

At the thought of ice cream, all thoughts about the monster disappear from his mind and he happily – but politely – asks for strawberry ice cream. As he finishes his bowl of pasta, he doesn't notice the disapproving look his grandfather gives Ryuuken.

  


*

Ten years later, he stares at his unopened suitcase as he sits on his new bed. The closet is bare, there is minimal furniture scattered about in the two rooms, he knows that he will need to clean the bathroom and kitchen at least three times before he trusts them enough to use them. He is hungry, tired and frustrated as he drops the key to his new flat onto the bedside table that has been placed there for him.

Ryuuken has been thorough with his organisation – as always. He had found a flat to rent out and had bought furniture that he had deemed necessary and gavehis son the key, all within two weeks of the boy announcing his desire to leave.

Kneeling on the floor to unpack his clothes, Uryuu realises that he isn't sure if he has moved out, or if he has been kicked out. His usual frown deepends at this thought. Trust Ryuuken to always have the last say. There is no winning against the man.

He pulls out the photo frames that are carefully wrapped in clothes. One is of his deceased grandfather, one of his mother, and the last is of a younger version of him, perched on Ryuuken's shoulders. Back when they both knew how to smile and laugh. He stares at the photo for a long moment, feeling utterly numb, and then opens the drawer of the bedside table and places it face-down before closing it again. He resumes the unpacking of his suitcase as though nothing had happened.

It takes him two weeks to become accustomed to living on his own. He and Ryuuken had avoided each other for most of they time when they shared a house, so he hadn't thought that things would be too different. They are.

He admits to himself that his decision had been to hasty. But he doesn't admit it aloud. Not to the lonely silence that follows him wherever he goes, not to the classmates that he spends the better part of his time at school ignoring, and certainly not to Ryuuken. He may be struggling to keep everything going, but that does not mean that he would compromise his pride and admit his mistake. No, in fact, his pride is what keeps him going. The memory of his grandfather. Of what his grandfather had stood for. What he know stands for himself. All the things that Ryuuken does not allow.

He scowls. Ryuuken. He doesn't need him. He's lived fourteen years without a mother, he can live the rest without a father too.

  


*

Not even two years pass until he is back under Ryuuken's house. He has packed all his necessary belongings into a bag to take with him and Ryuuken has told him that he will go himself and empty the rest of the flat. For this reason, Uryuu has all of his personal things in the bag with him. Books, diaries, sewing material, photos, school work. He is woken up early in the morning as usual by Ryuuken, who tells him to take the day off to rest, because he is too weak to train, and that he is going to Uryuu's old flat to clear it out. He nods, not arguing because Ryuuken's words are true, he is too weak to do anything and falls back down into his bed, almost immediately falling asleep.

Ryuuken watches him with a critical expression before reaching over and pulling the blankets more comfortably over his son's shoulders and shifting the pillow slightly so that Uryuu will not have neck pain when he wakes up. Then he leaves, making sure there is enough food in the fridge for the boy to help himself to if he is hungry and then getting into his car and driving to the block of flats that he hasn't visited since he had first inspected it before renting it out.

The flat already has the abandoned look to it. Everything has a thin layer of dust on it that Ryuuken knows would irritate Uryuu to no extent if he knew about it. He opens the closet and takes out all of the clothes that have been left there. He knows that Uryuu has taken only his underwear, school uniforms, two shirts, two pairs of pants and his Quincy uniform with him. There aren't many other clothes, but Ryuuken patiently folds whatever is there and stacks them on his bed before going through all of the drawers, filled with useless pieces of paper with discarded clothes designs, sewing magazines that have pages torn out of them and other things that Ryuuken puts into a bag designated for things that he will throw out. It takes half an hour to empty out the closet and he turns to the bedside table, noticing that the top of it is empty and opening the drawer. There are more papers that are thrown into the bag, used pens, broken pencils, all thrown out.

Then he finds something underneath it all that he pulls out and brushes the dust off carefully, his face betraying no emotion. The photo frame looks as though it has not been touched for years, and Ryuuken is sure that this is the case. His blue eyes look at the photo as he searches through his memory to try and find the day on which it was taken. He cannot. He looks at Uryuu's laughing face, and a stray thought comes into his mind, reminding him that it has been many years since he has seen his son even smile. Straightening up with the photo frame still in his hands, he turns to the bag of rubbish and hesitates for a moment, staring at the photo some more, before finally turning and placing it on the bed, a small distance away from Uryuu's belongings, starting a pile of things that no longer meant anything to his son, but he wants to keep.  


x


End file.
